Flashback Friday - Dublin

I was realizing today that at this time last year, we were spending our final full day in Ireland, and our second day in Dublin.  In so many ways, it seems so very long ago, then again, it seems very recent.

Then I also realized that I never finished my travelogue of our adventures and photos here on the blog, so I'm going to do that now.

We'd flown into Dublin on our first day, but immediately got our rental car and ventured elsewhere, since we knew we had two days at the end of the trip.  When we had been on our only other Ireland trip in 2003, we'd gotten to spend a day in Dublin, so we knew what to expect, and had fun making plans of what we would do on our return.

As was the case the rest of the trip, we had good weather.  As a matter of fact, the only time it actively rained when we were out, was on our very last day, when we were about 1 1/2 blocks from our hotel, heading back for dinner and the evening.  Not bad, and certainly nothing that interfered with any of our plans.

So, join me for the last part of our trip, before we flew home on November 2, 2012.

Well, you didn't think we wouldn't visit the Museum of Natural History, did you?  (What kind of natural history librarian would I be to skip it?  Besides, even before I started working at one, we both LOVED natural history museums!)

One of the best things about the Irish National Museum of Natural History is that, instead of the approach taken by modern museums, this one makes you feel that you walked right into a true cabinet of curiosities, in the way that it is laid out, and the specimens and exhibits are presented.  It was the best.

This is me standing in front of an Irish Elk, a now extinct creature, but one of my favorites.  We have one in our library's reading room, but the chance to see and Irish Elk in Ireland pleased my inner geek in an amazing way ...

Birds!

I was excited to see these Blaschka models of scientific specimens.  We have some at our museum, and they are so incredible, even when you see them or hold them in your hands, it seems impossible that they are glass.

Foxes!

Portion of the Hallway of Mammals

Part of the Skull Collection

Then it was on to the National Library of Ireland, where they had a special exhibit in celebration of the centenary of William Butler Yeats.

The skylight dome above the Reading Room.

Then National Gallery of Art of Ireland.  I didn't take any photos inside, but I have to admit that most of the gifts I bought for others were purchased in their gift shop!  Though parts of the galleries were closed for renovations, it was one of those places where each gallery that was open took your breath away with the array of beautiful paintings and objects.

I made a friend after we left there and were walking through town.

We spent our late afternoon taking a tour of the Abbey Theatre, which was so cool, as we had the chance to go backstage, behind the scenes, through some of the wardrobing and costume areas!

The Tim (on the very left here) in front of the Abbey Theatre.  We attended a performance there that evening of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.  A wonderful and fun way to end the day!

The next day, we headed to O'Connell Street, to walk up and down and go into some of the shops and wander down side streets.

 Daniel O'Connell Monument

 The General Post Office (so gorgeous inside - see below)

This is a bullet hole in one of the columns of the General Post Office from the 1916 Easter Uprising.

Then we visited with one of The Tim's best literary friends, James Joyce.

Then we headed to Powerscourt Townhouse, for some lunch and a trip to This Is Knit!

I bought three skeins of Donegal Irish Wool, and had a wonderful time looking at everything.  The shop staff was so nice, in spite of my blathering on and on.

From there, we headed to another part of town, where we saw St. Patrick's Cathedral. the building and the grounds were truly lovely, though we didn't go inside, because on philosophical grounds we objected to spending money for admission.

And finally, we made our way back to the other side of town, back to our hotel, and preparations to come back home and enjoy our memories.  We covered a lot of miles in those two days, and walked everywhere, so we woudn't miss anything.  It was so hard to leave.  But being able to go in the first place is the real treasure.

Thanks for indulging me looking at my pictures and listening to my tales, both in those post and others.  If you ever have the chance to visit Ireland, I have one word for you - GO!

I Haven't Forgotten, But ...

I did forget to show you these pictures from our trip to Ireland before I showed you the pictures from Limerick.  But I know you'll do your best to overlook that and just enjoy them.  If not, your problems are clearly not solvable by anything I can do ...

When we last visited the photos from our trip, you saw some of the highlights from our visit to Limerick, but I forgot to show you the pictures we took during a stop on the way there.

The last time we were in Ireland, we quickly drove through the little town of Adare, County Limerick, on the way to our airport hotel, and it looked very pretty.  So this time, since it was fairly early in the day, we decided to stop and look around.  What a good idea this was!  It was what you envision a small Irish town to look like in your head (well, at least in my head), and there is even a castle that is turned into a luxury hotel with what sounds to be a pretty amazing golf course.  (Not that I play golf, but this is info I gleaned from one of the locals.  So there.)

Anyhoo:

As you can see, Adare has a lot of thatched-roof cottages, some still residential, but those along the main street are tea shops, or small boutiques.  They are so pretty, and seem like pictures from a storybook.  We were both completely enchanted.

We stopped at a tea shop for tea and a scone, and this guy was sure we were going to share:

There was only one problem:  we were inside and he was out the window!  And whereas, we were amused, he was dismayed ...

There were also quite a few medieval sites, as there are in all of Ireland.

Ruins of St. Nicholas Church

Interior, Trinitarian Abbey (1230 A.D.)

There was also a lovely city park, with a very small fountain in the middle, and walking paths that went from the center like the spokes of a wheel, into more woodsy areas.  We did take pictures there, but since it was slightly overcast and the trees blocked a lot of light, those didn't turn out too well.

We walked up the carriageway of Adare Castle, but it was blocked after a certain point unless you were a guest, so we didn't get a chance to do much exploring on the grounds there.  We did see a small building a the entrance to the carriageway, with a sign that indicated that originally, anyone entering the property had to pass through there and be admitted by the gatekeeper.  So in some ways, nothing much was changed!

We only spent about half a day there, but it was so picturesque and quiet, and the people were so incredibly nice, that it felt like a big part of our trip.

Oh Ireland, we miss you!

Moving on to This Year ...

Now that I finally showed you the final project of 2012, I think it only makes sense to move on to the current year, don't you?

Granted, I started this one in 2012 ... the Sunday before we left for Ireland (that's October to be specific), with the completely misguided idea that I would be able to finish it before we left (in 5 days?  Really?), or during the trip.  Without saying much more, I think we can all figure out how this idea ended ...

But, I did love the yarn and the pattern I used, and I really wanted to finish it, so once all of the busy and crazy of the holiday season was finished, and I stopped being sick, I buckled down and got it finished.  Of course, only when I blocked it did I realize that I had lost count a couple of times without realizing it, so the eyelet "spine" is crooked.  I was not going to rip it all out and fix things, and to be honest, I was just proud that I finished it and couldn't wait to wear it.

Since it was my Ireland shawl, I gave it the name of the "Ath-Udair Shawl"  Ath-Udair is Gaelic for "next time," and I know I'll take it with me and wear it on our next trip to Ireland ... whenever that may be.

Blocking, when I discovered the "oops!"

This shows the shading and lovely drape better

The details:

Project:  Ath-Udair Shawl

Pattern:  One from my head, but I'm sure the experienced knitters can take a look and see that it's a variation on many themes.  At some point, I'd like to make another one, and write down what I actually did as I do it, in the event that anyone else wants to try it ... and so that hopefully, I can avoid the mistakes.

Yarn:  Laines de Nord Romeo (colorway #215, primary color forest green), 1 skein

Needles:  Size 11US

I truly do love this shawl!  It's a nice size, and very cozy.  I've gotten lots of compliments on it (and one person made a point to ask me if I knew there were mistakes, because there's always at least one, right?), and though the yarn is a bulky weight, the finished shawl is as light as a feather.  I decided I'd knit until I was as close to the end of the ball as possible.  After binding off, I had slightly less than 8 inches of yarn remaining!

Even if I don't make it to Ireland again anytime soon, I did work on this while we were there, so every time I see it or wear it, I think of our trip, and it makes me very  happy.  Which, when you think about it, should be why we knit anyway, right?

There Once Was a Woman Called Bridget ...

Something, something, something ... (I'm not good at making up Limericks on the spot).

When I last forced you to look at shared my Ireland pictures, we were visiting the Jameson distillery and the little town where it is located.  Our next stop was Limerick, County Limerick, where we would be for three days.  We had been there briefly (as in, we drove there, ate dinner, and drove back to our hotel) on our first visit, but this was our chance to really poke around and take our time.

On our way, though, we decided to stop at the Rock of Cashel, in County Tipperary, since we had read about it, known someone from the town of Cashel, and figured it would be fun to see.  And we were going to be driving right past the exit for Cashel, so it seemed like a no-brainer. However, after we arrived, and parked in the small lot nearby, we found out that it was closed for the day (it was about 4:00 in the afternoon - the last tours were at 3:00).  Oh well, such is life.  We did get some nice photos, though, and then we made our way to Limerick, where we were in a gorgeous hotel, and within very easy walking distance of all the things we wanted to see.  So here are some of the sights we saw during our time there.

Path leading to the Rock of Cashel

A totem-like monument on the side of the hill

Near the top (getting the "artsy" shot of the bird in flight was just luck)

 Our hotel room in Limerick

View of the River Shannon from the window seat in our room

Medieval wall, dating from the 1100s (right behind is a neighborhood street)

St. Mary's Cathedral, also dating from medieval times, with the churchyard cemetery

King John's Castle (King John of Magna Carta fame; he never actually was here, but this was where the government administration was in Ireland during his reign.)

Castle yard, viewed from one of the battlements

Another view of the River Shannon, and one of the many bridges, 

also viewed from one of the battlements

Yours truly on the dock next to the Visitors Center

Limerick is a great city for walking around, and I think while we were there, we must have walked the entire city at least once or twice.  Every night we would go to a pub in the medieval part of town, not far from our hotel, and have dinner and a pint, and just relax and people watch.  Everyone was very friendly (as they are everywhere in Ireland, truly), and there was usually a rugby or soccer match on that we would watch (well, actually we spent most of our time watching everyone else watch the matches).

I gave The Tim a hard time the one day, when in only an hour's time, we came across the following:

The Arthur family (my family name) has a long and storied history in Limerick 

Whereas, it would appear that things have been tough for the Clancys 

(The Tim's family name).

And that's today's travelogue.  I'm having fun sharing these with you, but I have to admit, it's making me really itchy to return sometime soon ...

Have a good weekend!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

I think it only makes sense that I do another installment of our trip to Ireland today, don't you?  After Kilkenny, our next stop for overnight was Blarney in County Cork.  We already knew that we were not likely to stop to kiss the Blarney stone, because everyone we know who had done so, said that a) you are hanging upside down, high off the ground, and b) there's *always* a long wait in line. So even though it would be fun to say we'd done it, neither of us really likes standing on long lines, especially when we aren't spending a lot of time in one place on a vacation.  So our adventures in Blarney mainly consisted of long walks, toodling around the little town, a visit to the Blarney Woollen Mills, and visiting a pub we liked for dinner and a pint every night. Our big adventure was in the nearby town of Midleton, where we went on a tour of of the Jameson Irish Whiskey distillery.  So interesting, so much fun, and a tasting at the the end!  We did this on the day of our anniversary, and at the tasting we met another couple who were also celebrating their anniversary, and were on a weekend holiday from a nearby small town.  They were both schoolteachers, and we had a great time talking to them.

Hmm ... there's a letter missing .... has someone been sampling?

The entrance to the store, and where you also purchase tickets for the tour.

The old copper kettle next to one of the main buildings.

 The courtyard - there are about 5 buildings like this all around.

 The distillery master's cottage on the grounds.

The original water wheel.

Barrels ready for transport.

One of the trucks used to transport the barrels to Dublin for distribution.  

(Today, they are delivered by train).

Jameson Irish Whiskey is still brewed in Midleton, in a new building adjacent to the old distillery, which is basically a sterile-looking box with no real character.  The whiskey is then taken to Dublin, where it is distributed all over the world.

Midleton was a pleasant little town, though most things were closed, since it was Sunday.  But there were another couple of notable things about the town worth showing:

This is town library, down the street from the Jameson distillery.

And a little bit farther down, and across the street, tucked away in a little alley leading to a courtyard, a yarn shop!

Let's see ... the Jameson distillery, the library, and a yarn store, all within walking distance of one another, on a single street - would it be wrong to say it felt like home???

;-)

So raise a glass - Jameson, Guinness, Smithwick's, whatever your beverage of choice - and toast Saint Patrick on his day!  We will be, along with some homemade Irish brown bread, served with potato and cabbage soup.

"May you have warm words on a cold evening, 

a full moon on a dark night, 

and the road downhill all the way to your door"

 -- Irish blessing